Rolls of paper toweling and dispensers therefor



March 24, 1964 e. x. BATLAS ETAL 3,126,234

PENSERS THEREFOR Filed March 2, 1961 ROLLS OF PAPER TOWELING AND DISINVENTORS: GEORGE X. BATLAS and STEPHEN BARANSKI ATTORNEY.

United States Patent This invention relates generally to rolls of papertoweling and dispensers therefor, and more particularly is directed toimprovements in dispensers of the type which are adapted to hold tworolls of paper toweling and operative to initially dispense papertoweling from one of the rolls and, when that one roll is exhausted, toautomatic-ally dispense toweling from the other roll, for example, asdisclosed in detail in our co-pending application Serial No. 748,965,which will issue on March 14, 1961, as United States Letters Patent No.2,974,839.

A dispenser for sequentially dispensing paper toweling from first andsecond rolls thereof, as described in the above identified patent,generally includes structure for rotatably supporting the rolls in upperand lower positions within a cabinet or housing, parallel dispensing andpressure rollers between which the paper toweling passes during thedispensing thereof, an auxiliary or control roller disposed adjacent thepressure roller at a location on the circumference of the latter whichis remote from the line of rolling contact of the pressure roller withthe dispensing roller, and control means for bodily moving the auxiliaryor control roller toward and away from the surface of the pressureroller in accordance with the supply of paper toweling remaining in thelower roll from which the paper toweling is first dispensed so that, solong as a substantial supply of paper toweling remains in the lowerroll, the auxiliary or control roller is spaced from the pressure rollerand the leading end of the web of paper toweling in the upper noll mayhang loosely and immobile therebetween, whereas, when the supply of.paper toweling in the lower roll is almost depleted, the auxiliaryroller is pressed against the pressure roller and the leading end of theweb of paper toweling there between is frictionally engaged by thepressure roller and carried by the latter between the pressure rollerand the dispensing roller to thereby commence dispensing of (the papertoweling from the upper roll as the supply of paper toweling in thelower roll becomes exhausted.

In operating dispensers of the type described above, it has been foundthat the sequential dispensing of paper toweling from the two rolls maybe disturbed if the rolls are not installed or supported for withdrawalof the paper toweling from the rolls in a particular direction. Morespecifically, it has been found that the rolls must be rotatablysupported in the cabinet so that the paper toweling being unwoundtherefrom is drawn downwardly in front of the roll. If the upper andlower rolls of paper toweling are not disposed in the cabinet or housingof the dispenser in the manner described above, there is a danger thatthe leading end of the web of paper toweling from the upper roll, whichis intended to hang loosely and immobile between the dispensing andpressure rollers during dispensing of paper toweling from the lower rollmay be inadvertently withdrawn upwardly from between the pressure andauxiliary rollers and thereby either prematurely commence dispensing ofpaper toweling from the upper roll simultaneously with dispensing ofpaper toweling from the lower roll, or render the dispenser inoperativeto dispense paper toweling from the upper roll when the supply of papertoweling in the lower roll becomes exhausted.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a dispenser'of the described character and rolls of paper toweling for use thereinwhich are mutually constructed and arranged to prevent the improperdisposition of the rolls in the cabinet or housing of the dispenser,thereby to ensure the reliable and consistent sequential dispensing ofpaper toweling from the two rolls.

A further object is to provide a dispenser of the described characterand rolls of paper toweling for use therein which ensure the properdisposition of the rolls in the cabinet or housing without substantiallyincreasing the complexity or cost of the dispenser or of the rolls ofpaper toweling.

In accordance with an aspect of this invention, rolls of paper towelingfor use in a dispenser of the described character are provided withopenings or sockets at the opposite ends having relatively large andsmall diameters, respectively, while the support for the rolls withinthe cabinet of the dispenser has lugs adapted to extend into theopenings at the opposite ends of the rolls and similarly havingrelatively large and small diameters so that the rolls of paper towelingcan only be disposed in the proper positions within the cabinet, thatis, to permit withdrawal of the paper toweling downwardly in front ofthe roll.

The above, and other objects, features and advantages of this invention,will be apparent in the following detailed description of anillustrative embodiment thereof, which is to be read in connection withthe acompanying drawing forming a part hereof, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, partly broken away and in section, ofa dispenser for rolls of paper toweling embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a transverse, vertical sectional view taken along the line 2-2of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an axial sectional view of a roll of paper toweling embodyingthe invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the roll of paper toweling embodying[this invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a dispenser of the describedcharacter, and illustrating the possibility of defective dispensing ofpaper toweling from the rolls if the latter are improperly disposedwithin the cabinet; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view corresponding to a portion ofFIG. 1, but showing the proper operation of the dispenser insequentially feeding paper toweling from two rolls.

Referring to the drawing in detail, and initially to FIGS. 1 and 2thereof, it will be seen that the dispenser 10 embodying the presentinvention is generally similar to the dispenser disclosed in detail inour previously mentioned Patent No. (2,974,839, particularly in FIGS.12, 13 and 14 thereof, and generally includes a cabinet '11 adapted formounting on a wall or other vertical sup porting surface and having aback wall 12, inner side walls 13 and 1 4 with outwardly directedperipheral flanges, and a bottom wall 15 which, at its forward edge, is(bent upwardly and spaced rearwardly from the lower edge of an arcuateguide piece 16 extending laterflly between side walls 13 and 14 todefine a downwardly opening discharge slot 17. The cabinet 11 furtherhas a removable cover 118 which, in its closed position, extends acrossthe front and top of the cabinet and covers the later to be describedmechanisms situated against the outer surfaces of side walls 13 and 14.The cover 1%; is suitably mounted on the cabinet for providingconvenient access to the interior of the latter while the cabinet issupported on a wall or other vertical supporting surface.

The dispenser it further includes a dispensing roller 19 havingtrunnions 1% (FIG. 2) projecting axially from the opposite ends androtatably mounted in side walls 13 and 1d and located so that the roller19 extends across the lower front portion of cabinet 11 in back of guideplate 16 and a vertical plane tangent to the front of roller 19 passesthrough discharge slot 17. A pressure roller 20 has the ends of its axle23a (FIG. 2) slidable in slots 46 (FIG. 1) formed in each of side walls13 and 14 so as to be rotatably mounted above the dispensing roller 1)in front of the vertical plane passing through the axis of rotation ofthe latter. The roller 2@ is yieldably urged toward the dispensingroller, for example, by means of springs 2911 (FIG. 2) connected betweenthe ends of axle 2% and anchor pins Zilc projecting from side walls 13and 14-, thereby to press a web or sheet of paper toweling against thesurface of roller 19 so that the feeding of the paper towelingdownwardly through the slot 17 will be controlled by the rotation of thedispensing roller.

The dispenser 1 9 embodying the present invention is adapted to containtwo supplies of paper toweling which are successively or sequentiallydispensed without interruption. More specifically, the dispenser it isadapted to first dispense the continuous web A of paper toweling whichis supplied in the form of a roll A disposed in a lower position and,upon the depletion or exhaustion of the web A, to then dispense thecontinuous web B of paper toweling which is supplied in the form of aroll B disposed in an upper position.

In order to eifect the successive dispensing of the webs A and B, thedispenser 1t includes a control or auxiliary roller 21 extendinglaterally across cabinet 11 adjacent the circumferential portion ofpressure roller 20 which is remote from the line of rolling contact ofroller 19 with roller 29 and being initially spaced from the latter, asshown in FIG. 1. The control roller 21 is mounted for movement towardand away from the pressure roller 24 in accordance with the amount ofthe first dispensed web A remaining on roll A. Thus, when a substantialportion of roll A remains within the cabinet, the control roller 21 isspaced from the pressure roller 20 and, when the roll A is almostcompletely depleted, con trol roller 21 moves rearwardly againstpressure roller 20, as in FIG. 6.

As is shown in FIG. 1, the web A of the lower roll A passes downwardlyin baclc of roller 20 and then generally forwardly between the rollers19 and 20 prior to being deflected downwardly through discharge slot 17by plate 16, while the web B from the upper roll B is initially leddownwardly through the gap between the roller 21 and pressure roller 20.Thus, when the user exerts a downward pull on the exposed end of web Afor withdrawing a length of the latter from the cabinet, the rollers 1Eand 2d rotate in the clockwise and counterclockwise directions,respectively, as viewed in FIG. 1, by reason of their frictional contactwith the withdrawn web A. However, by reason of the spacing of controlroller 21 from pressure roller 20, the free end portion of the web Bpassing therebetween tends to remain immobile. Thus, during thedispensing of almost all of the web A contained in the lower roll A, itis intended that the web B remain in the position illustrated in FIG. 1.However, as shown in FIG. 6, when the lower roll A is almost entirelydepleted and control roller 21 is moved against pressure roller 2%, theweb B is gripped between rollers 20 and 21 and frictionally moved bypressure roller 20 as the rollers 12 and 2b are rotated in response tofurther withdrawal of the web A from discharge slot 17. It will beapparent that, during such rotation of pressure roller Zilt, the topportion of the surface thereof which is frictionally engaged by the webB, moves rearwardly and forms a fold in the web B between the downwardlymoving web A and the downwardly and rearwardly moving portion of thesurface of pressure roller 29. Thus, the web 13 is frictionally grippedbetween the web A and the surface of pressure roller 20 and is drawnwith the web A between the pressure and dispensing rollers 26 and 19 forguidance by the plate 16 out of discharge slot 17. Upon exhaustion ofthe web A, the web B projects from discharge slot 17, and the user maythen pull downwardly upon the exposed portion of web B so that papertoweling continues to be dispensed without interruption followingexhaustion of the supply of paper toweling on roll A.

In the illustrated dispenser 10, the control roller 21 is supported formovement toward and away from pressure roller 29 by means of triangularlever members 22 disposed adjacent side walls 13 and 14 and each beingpivotally mounted, at one forward corner, on a pivot pin 23 extendingfrom the adjacent side wall, while the ends of the axle 24 of controlroller 21 are suitably mounted in triangular lever members 22 adjacentcorners of the latter disposed substantially below the pivot pins 23.Thus, as shown in FIG. 1, the triangular lever members 22 extendrearwardly and downwardly with respect to their pivot pins 23 so thatthe centers of gravity of the lever members are disposed substantiallyto the rear of their pivoting axes. Accordingly, lever members 22 tendto pivot in the counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 1, aboutthe pivot pins 23 and thereby tend to move control roller 21 forwardlyand upwardly away from pressure roller for permitting web B from upperroll B to remain immobile between rollers 25 and 21 as described above,during the feeding of substantially all of the web A from roll A.

In order to urge roller, 21 against pressure roller 20 upon thedepletion of roll A, dispenser 16 further includes a roller 25engageable with the lower roll A, at the bottom of the latter, and beingrotatable on a shaft 26 having its opposite ends slidable in verticalslots 27 formed in side walls 13 and 14.

Springs 28 (FIG. 2) are connected between the ends of shaft 26 andsuitable anchors 29 extending from side walls 13 and 14 in order to urgeroller 25 upwardly for maintaining rolling contact between roller 25 andthe surface of roll A as paper toweling is dispensed from the latter toreduce the diameter thereof.

When the paper toweling of roll A is substantially depleted, as in FIG.1, the ends of shaft 26 carrying roller 25 act upwardly against levermembers 22 to cause pivoting of the latter in the clockwise direction,as viewed in FIG. 1, .whereby control roller 21 is moved againstpressure roller 20.

The rolls A and B are rotatably supported within cabinet 11 on astructure 39 that includes an axle 31 having its opposite ends journaledin side walls 13 and 14, and two laterally resilient arms 32 and 33mounted, at their centers, on the opposite end portions of axle 31 andextending generally parallel to each other to swing together with axle31. Arms 32 and 33 have cylindrical lugs 34 and 35, respectively,extending inwardly from the opposite ends thereof and adapted to projectaxially into openings provided at the opposite ends of rolls A and B, ashereinafter described in detail, for rotatably supporting the rolls ofpaper toweling.

Roll supporting structure is releasably held in the illustratedposition, that is, with arms 32 and 33 thereof extending vertically, bymeans of a pin 35 selectively engageable in notches 37 formed at theopposite ends of arm 32. Pin 36 extends through an arcuate slot 38 inside wall 13 (FIG. 1) from a lever 39 which is pivotally mounted on apin 40 carried by side wall 13. A spring 41 connected between lever 39and an anchor 42 urges lever 39 to rock in the direction engaging pin 36with the notch 37 of arm 32 which is then disposed at the uppermost endof the latter.

When all of the paper toweling in roll A has been dispensed, anddispenser '10 has then automatically commenced the dispensing of papertoweling from the upper roll B, in the manner described above, rollsupporting structure 30 can be turned about its axle 31 so as to disposeroll B in the lower position. Then, the core of exhausted roll A can beremoved and replaced by a full roll of paper toweling with the leadingend portion of the latter being fed between rollers 21) and 21 so as tocommence the dispensing of paper toweling from the new roll upondepletion of the paper toweling in the roll B.

It has been found that the sequential dispensing of paper toweling fromthe lower and upper rolls A and B is consistently and reliably achievedonly when such rolls of paper toweling are rotatably mounted in thesupporting structure 30 in the manner shown in FIG. 1, that is, with thewebs A and B of paper toweling being drawn downwardly in front of therespective rolls for clockwise rotation of the latter, as viewed in FIG.1, during the dispensing of paper toweling from the rolls.

If the rolls are installed in the cabinet 11 in the positions opposed tothose described above, that is, with the webs A and B being drawndownwardly in back of the respective rolls A and B to causecounterclockwise rotation of the rolls during dispensing of papertoweling therefrom, as illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 5, then WebB from upper roll B will frictionally engage the surface of lower roll Aover a substantial portion of the circumference of the latter and,during dispensing of paper toweling from roll A, there is a danger thatsuch frictional contact of roll A with web B will tend to pull theleading end portion of the latter upwardly from between pressure roller20 and control roller 21. This action can disadvantageously affect thedesired sequential dispensing of paper toweling from the rolls A and Bin two ways. First of all, the leading end of web B may be pulledupwardly from between rollers 20 and 21 and passed over the top of rollA so that the leading end portion of web B drops in back of roll A, asindicated in broken lines at B2, in which case the dispensing of papertoweling from the upper roll B will not commence upon depletion of thepaper toweling in the lower roll A. Even if the foregoing does notoccur, there is the danger that the described upward movement of theleading end of web B Will cause the latter to form a fold, as indicatedat B3 on FIG. 5, when the weight of the paper toweling of web B betweenthe surface of roll A and roller 20 exceeds the weight of the papertoweling in the leading end of the web B suspended in front of roller29. The fold B3 formed in web B may be pinched between web A and roller20 and thereby passed out of discharge slot 17 of the dispenser tocommence the dispensing of paper toweling from the upper roll B eventhough a very substantial quantity of the web A still remains on thelower roll A. In that event, paper toweling will be dispensedsimultaneously from rolls A and B and thereby result in a substantialwaste of paper toweling.

In order to avoid the above described improper dispensing of papertoweling from dispenser 10, the latter and the rolls A and B intended tobe used therewith are, in accordance with this invention, mutuallyconstructed and arranged to permit the placement of the rolls in thecabinet only in one direction, that is, with the ends of the websextending downwardly from the respective rolls at the front of thelatter. Thus, during dispensing of paper toweling from the lower roll A,the latter turns in the clockwise direction, as viewed on FIG. 1, andany frictional contact between the web B and the surface of the lowerroll A cannot cause upward withdrawal of the leading end of web B frombetween rollers 28 and 21.

In order to ensure that the rolls A and B can be disposed only in theabove described desired position in supporting structure 30, each of therolls of paper towelirig has openings 43 and 44 (FIG. 3) at its oppositeends provided with relatively large and small diameters, respectively.In a preferred embodiment of this invention illustrated in the drawing,the relatively small diameter opening 44 at one end of the roll of papertoweling is defined by the bore of the usual tubular core 45 on whichthe paper toweling is wound, while the relatively large diameter opening43 at the opposite end of the roll is formed by a counterbore. Further,in accordance with the invention, the cylindrical lugs 35 extendinginwardly from the opposite ends of arm 33 of supporting structure 30 areeach diametrically dimensioned to closely extend into the relativelysmall diameter opening 44 at one end of a roll of paper toweling, whilethe cylindrical lugs 34 extending inwardly from the opposite ends of arm32 each have a larger diameter than the lugs 35 and are each adapted tobe received in the relatively large opening or counterbore 43 of a rollof paper toweling. Thus, each roll of paper toweling can only be mountedin supporting structure 30 in the position where the relatively largediameter opening or counterbore 43 receives a lug 34 while therelatively small diameter opening 44 at the opposite end of the rollreceives a lug 35, as is apparent in FIG. 2. It will be understood thatthe ends of the roll of paper toweling having the relatively large andsmall diameter openings 43 and 44 are selected so that, when suchopenings receive the lugs 34 and 35, respectively, the related roll ofpaper toweling will be in the desired position, that is, for unwindingof the paper toweling downwardly at the front of the roll.

Where the core 45 of the roll of paper toweling has a relatively smallthickness, so that the desired difference between the diameters of theopenings 43 and 44 at the opposite ends of the roll can be achieved onlyby cutting away one end of the core and forming a counterbore in thestack of paper toweling, as at 43 in FIG. 3, the relatively largediameter lugs 34 are further preferably provided with smaller diameteraxial extensions 46 (FIG. 2) which are adapted to project into theadjacent ends of the tubular cores 45 of the rolls, whereby the core 45will be rotatably supported by extension 46 and lug 35 when the papertoweling of the related roll has been exhausted.

Since the rolls of paper toweling intended for use in the dispenser 10can be installed in the latter only in the desired positions, it isapparent that the dispenser will, in accordance with the presentinvention, reliably and consistently effect the sequential dispensing ofpaper toweling from the lower and upper rolls mounted therein.

Although an illustrative embodiment of this invention has been describedin detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawing, it is to beunderstood that the present invention is not limited to that preciseembodiment, and that various changes and modifications may be effectedtherein without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention,except as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination of a dispenser comprising a cabinet having adownwardly opening discharge slot at the front thereof, a dispensingroller rotatably mounted in said cabinet above said slot, a pressureroller rotatably mounted in said cabinet above said dispensing roller,means urging said pressure roller against said dispensing roller, tworolls each including a spirally wound web of sheet material, supportmeans rotatably supporting said two rolls in said cabinet in upper andlower positions, respectively, and having means cooperating with saidrolls to permit the mounting of the latter in said cabinet only in thedirection permitting withdrawal of each web downwardly from therespective roll at the front of the latter, the web from said lower rollpassing downwardly between said pressure and dispensing rollers forwithdrawal through said slot, a control roller in said cabinet adjacentthe portion of the circumference of said pressure roller facing awayfrom said dispensing roller and being movable toward and away from saidpressure roller so that, when the web from said upper roller is passedbetween said control and pressure rollers, the spacing of said controlroller from said pressure roller permits the web therebetween to remainimmobile as said pressure and dispensing rollers are rotated, while themovement of said control roller against said pressure roller causes therotation of the latter to move the sheet material from the upper rollrearwardly over the pressure roller into frictional engagement betweensaid pressure roller and the Web from said lower roll for movement withthe latter web between the dispensing and pressure rollers and out ofsaid slot when said web from the upper roll is then exposed forwithdrawal from the cabinet, and actuating means for said control rolleracting in response to the diameter of said lower roll to space saidcontrol roller from said pressure roller so long as the diameter of saidlower roll exceeds a predetermined value and to move said control rolleragainst said pressure roller when the diameter of said lower rolldecreases below said predetermined value, thereby to automaticallyexpose the web of said upper roll for withdrawal from the cabinet priorto complete exhaustion of said lower roll.

2. The combination as in claim 1; wherein each of said rolls has axialopenings at its opposite ends of relatively large and small diameters,and said support means includes a set of axially spaced apartcylindrical lugs for each roll, said lugs of each set having relativelylarge and small diameters, respectively, and engaging closely in saidopenings of relatively large and small diameters when the related rollis mounted in said direction.

3. The combination as in claim 2; wherein each roll further includes anopen-ended tubular core on which said Web is wound, said core definingthe relatively small diameter opening at one end of said roll, and thelatter having a counterbore at its other end defining said relativelylarge diameter opening; and wherein said large diameter lug of each setfurther has an axial extension of reduced diameter fitting into theadjacent end of said core to support the letter when all of the web hasbeen unwound therefrom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,205,472 Moore Nov. 21, 1916 1,594,907 Gmndler et a1. Aug. 3, 19262,046,550 Daniels July 7, 1936 2,146,038 West Feb. 7, 1939 2,211,210Johnson Aug. 13, 1940 2,652,205 Balaban Sept. 15, 1953 3,029,035 LaytonApr. 10, 1962

1. THE COMBINATION OF A DISPENSER COMPRISING A CABINET HAVING ADOWNWARDLY OPENING DISCHARGE SLOT AT THE FRONT THEREOF, A DISPENSINGROLLER ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN SAID CABINET ABOVE SAID SLOT, A PRESSUREROLLER ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN SAID CABINET ABOVE SAID DISPENSING ROLLER,MEANS URGING SAID PRESSURE ROLLER AGAINST SAID DISPENSING ROLLER, TWOROLLS EACH INCLUDING A SPIRALLY WOUND WEB OF SHEET MATERIAL, SUPPORTMEANS ROTATABLY SUPPORTING SAID TWO ROLLS IN SAID CABINET IN UPPER ANDLOWER POSITIONS, RESPECTIVELY, AND HAVING MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAIDROLLS TO PERMIT THE MOUNTING OF THE LATTER IN SAID CABINET ONLY IN THEDIRECTION PERMITTING WITHDRAWAL OF EACH WEB DOWNWARDLY FROM THERESPECTIVE ROLL AT THE FRONT OF THE LATTER, THE WEB FROM SAID LOWER ROLLPASSING DOWNWARDLY BETWEEN SAID PRESSURE AND DISPENSING ROLLERS FORWITHDRAWAL THROUGH SAID SLOT, A CONTROL ROLLER IN SAID CABINET ADJACENTTHE PORTION OF THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF SAID PRESSURE ROLLER FACING AWAYFROM SAID DISPENSING ROLLER AND BEING MOVABLE TOWARD AND AWAY FROM SAIDPRESSURE ROLLER SO THAT, WHEN THE WEB FROM SAID UPPER ROLLER IS PASSEDBETWEEN SAID CONTROL AND PRESSURE ROLLERS, THE SPACING OF SAID CONTROLROLLER FROM SAID PRESSURE ROLLER PERMITS THE WEB THEREBETWEEN TO REMAINIMMOBILE AS SAID PRESSURE AND DISPENSING ROLLERS ARE ROTATED, WHILE THEMOVEMENT OF SAID CONTROL ROLLER AGAINST SAID PRESSURE ROLLER CAUSES THE